‘Must See TV’ Special "Was Like a High School Reunion" for ‘Friends,’ ‘Cheers’ Casts, EP Says

Reuniting a expel of Friends – or slightest 5 out of 6 – is no tiny feat. Bringing together a casts of Friends, Cheers, Will Grace, Frasier, Taxi, The Big Bang Theory and Mike Molly on a same night, in a same room? TV writer John Irwin calls it an “epic undertaking.”

But lo and behold, stars like Jennifer Aniston, Ted Danson, Debra Messing, Danny DeVito, Melissa McCarthy and many some-more will share a shade Sunday on NBC for a new two-hour primetime special. The occasion? Paying bend to longtime TV executive James Burrows as he hits his 1000th episode, on a arriving sitcom Crowded.

“When we initial started reaching out to talent, it was usually so transparent that everybody was on house to attend that truly is a covenant to Jimmy and how most people usually adore him,” Irwin tells The Hollywood Reporter. “I have to say, we don’t know that something like this could ever come together again in a lifetime since there’s usually one Jimmy Burrows. … People literally usually forsaken whatever they had scheduled for that day and done it a indicate to participate.”

In further to bringing this prolonged list of talent together, Irwin and associate executive producers Sean Hayes and Todd Milliner went to good efforts in other ways to make a eventuality feel like a loyal celebration. “We didn’t wish this to feel too technical,” says Irwin of a Golden Globes-style seating arrangement that put several expel members together during spin tables to suffer food and drink. “That kind of set-up creates a most looser, some-more loose kind of vibe than if you’re in a theater. Because afterwards during a blurb breaks, people are articulate and sitting during other people’s tables; it usually creates a improved appetite and we consider that unequivocally comes by in a show.”

Also upping a appetite is a show’s “ambitious” cold open, Irwin says, featuring Woody Harrelson, Eric McCormack, Matt LeBlanc and Charlie Sheen, among others. “It usually helps to mangle it up,” he says. “The expel was totally down to to participate.”

The special also facilities dual hosts – Watch What Happens Live‘s Andy Cohen and Hollywood Game Night’s Jane Lynch – who take turns moderating expel reunions when it’s their spin to take a stage. “It unequivocally was an annoyance of cache and we unequivocally got a clarity that, for a lot of these large casts, this was like a high propagandize reunion in a good approach since everybody apparently gets bustling and goes their possess approach and when they’re adult on theatre – even a guys of Big Bang who still see any other bland – they were all usually super engaged,” Irwin says. “We had to make tough decisions in a revise since there was so most good stuff.”

But over usually reuniting these star-studded casts and removing fun anecdotes from their viewpoint shows, a artistic group behind a special always kept their concentration on a reason for a evening. “The thing that came opposite for me that was so absolute was that we got all of these casts that camber all these decades and generations and they all have such bend for him. we can’t count how many times we listened people contend that Jimmy was like their broker father,” Irwin says. “It unequivocally is a ultimate jubilee of one’s career and life to a certain extent.”

In further to saying their favorite casts together again, even if briefly, Irwin hopes viewers travel divided with a newfound appreciation for a shows themselves. “I consider there will be a small bit of find from some immature people that might not have grown adult with Taxi or Cheers,” he says. “They’re going to go, ‘Oh my god, ‘I wish to watch that show.'”

Must See TV: An All-Star Tribute to James Burrows front Sunday during 9 p.m. on NBC.